


"Maybe you should sit down..."

by AutisticWriter



Series: A is for Angst [13]
Category: Prince of Stride: Alternative (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Character Death, Crying, Friendship, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hugs, One Shot, Phone Calls & Telephones, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 14:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15002507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticWriter/pseuds/AutisticWriter
Summary: What if Ayumu’s accident in episode four was far worse?[Prompt 13: "Maybe you should sit down..."]





	"Maybe you should sit down..."

What is he doing? It’s too big a drop. Will he even make it?

“Ayumu, please don’t do it!” Nana yells into her microphone, trying to stop him taking this dangerous shortcut.

But Ayumu doesn’t listen. He keeps running and jumps—

And there is a horrible clattering thud, before silence.

Nana stares at the screen. His earpiece broke. He fell. He’s injured.

“Nana, what’s going on?” Heath says.

“Nana? What’s wrong with Ayumu?” Hozumi cries, obviously concerned for his best friend.

“Ayumu! Please answer me!” she says, tears starting to sting in her eyes.

He can’t be hurt. Please…

And then Nana stands up, pulls off her headphones and runs over to some of the event organiseers.

“I think one of my runners is hurt!” she cries. “We need to find him.”

Nana shows the men her tablet, pointing out the place where Ayumu fell. As they rush off to find him, Nana grabs her headphones and says to all of her runners, “Ayumu fell. We need to go help him.”

“But we’ll get disqualified,” Takeru says.

“Who cares!” Riku yells.

And as Nana runs off to find Ayumu, she can hear the four remaining runners doing the same thing. She spots Takeru first, but he runs to fast for her to catch up. She is the last to arrive on the scene, and she is horrified.

A small crowd has formed, but officials tell them all to stand back. Hozumi is having a raging argument with one of them, crying about how he needs to see his friend. From through the human barrier, Nana catches a glimpse of a first aid officer, and… and the prone form of Ayumu.

“Nana, there you are!” Riku says, rushing over to her.

“He took a shortcut. He’s… he’s really hurt, isn’t he?” she says, grabbing his arm and holding it as tight as she can.

“They’re calling an ambulance,” Heath says. “And I think he’s unconscious.”

“This is terrible,” Takeru mumbles, for once not talking about Stride.

“Is he going to be okay?” Nana whispers.

“Let me see him!” Hozumi yells, sobbing as he tries to push past the officials blocking his path.

Heath sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know.”

Nana’s stomach churns and she wonders if she might be sick. Instead, she clings to Riku as tears run down her face, and she doesn’t flinch away when he hugs her. They don’t stop hugging when Mr Dan approaches the scene.

“When the ambulance comes, I’ll go with him to hospital,” he says. “And try to calm down, Hozumi.”

Hozumi sniffs, but he obeys their teacher. He wanders back over to the others and Heath slings an arm around his shoulders.

“I’m his teacher, let me through,” Mr Dan says, walking over to the officials.

Nana stares at her teacher, amazed when they let him through. Before he moves out of sight, the expression on Mr Dan’s face makes her cry even harder.

\---

The five members of the Stride team sit in the Shogi/Stride club room, hunched up on the couch (although Riku is sprawled on the floor), waiting for the call from Mr Dan. Their teacher went off in the ambulance four hours ago, and they haven’t heard from him since.

“I hope he’ll be okay,” Heath says.

Takeru sighs. “So do I. But you saw him when they loaded him into the ambulance.”

Nana nods, knowing what he means. It was so horrible so see Ayumu on that stretcher, covered in dressings with a mask over his mouth and his right arm and left ankle bending in the wrong directions.

“Stop talking about it,” Hozumi whimpers, his eyes horribly red from crying. Nana’s eyes are red too.

As Heath is the president of the Stride club, Mr Dan has his phone number. So he has placed his cell phone on the table in front of them, and everyone is watching the phone intently.

But when the phone does end up ringing, Heath has taken a trip to the bathroom. So as the others panic and Riku dashes off to find him, Nana picks up the phone and holds it to her ear, her heart pounding.

“Hello, Mr Dan,” she says. “I know you were expecting to hear Heath’s voice, but he’s not here right now.”

“It’s quite all right,” Mr Dan says. His voice sounds weak, like he is exhausted.

“So, do you have news about Ayumu?”

In front of her Takeru frowns and Hozumi looks like he might start crying again, wringing his hands together.

She hears Mr Dan sigh. “I do. But, Nana, uh… are you standing up right now?”

“Y-Yeah, I am,” she says, confused.

"Maybe you should sit down..." Mr Dan says, and she can hear pain in his voice.

“Okay,” Nana says, sititng down between the boys. “So… what’s happened?”

“I don’t know quite how to tell you this. uh… his injuries were severe, including catastrophic brain damage.”

“No…” she whispers, realising what he’s about to say.

“I’m sorry, Nana. Ayumu didn’t make it.”

Her grip on the phone fails and it falls into her lap. Nana stares straight ahead, tears bubbling in her eyes. As Takeru takes the phone and starts to talk to Mr Dan, Hozumi shakes her shoulder a bit too hard, his own eyes full of tears.

“What? Nana, what did he say?!”

Takeru sighs shakily, finishing his conversation with Mr Dan with a brief, “Thank you for telling us, sir,” and then turns to look at the others. “Hozumi, Ayumu… he died.”

And that is it. Hozumi’s sobs are loud and agonised and more horrible than anything Nana has ever heard – well, other than the horrible sound of Ayumu crashing to the ground.

And seeing Hozumi break is what finally sends tears spilling down her face, wrapping her arms around him as they boy cry. Even Takeru is patting her on the back and saying, “I’m so sorry. This is awful,” and things like that, trying is best to comfort them.

And when Heath is dragged back into the room by Riku, both of them already looking like they expected the worst, seeing Hozumi and Nana in hysterical whilst Takeru tries to reassure them, Health rushes forwards to hug Hozumi and Riku hugs Nana, and she feels his tears dripping onto her head.

This is terrible. In the space of a few seconds, one stupid decision, they lost Ayumu forever.


End file.
